Not really sure what implementation would be best. I hope real sparring weapons make it into the next version. Anyway, though...
Method 1: Add in a new metal with [WEAPON] and [DEEP] tokens and a very low [DAMAGE_PERC:], plus a smelter reaction to create this new material out of wood or iron or whatever. I've heard of a guy making "nerf" this way, though I'd probably call the material "practice." Thus, "practice axe" rather than "iron axe."
Problem is, practice bars could be used to make anything, which would be crazy no matter what the material is called.
Here lies Urist Cloisterduck
Who finally ran out of luck
He was in his prime, our most promising recruit
But his years of training have been rendered moot
An axe forged of practice severed his esophagus
So we've laid him to rest in this -practice sarcophagus-
I bet adding the [BRITTLE] tag would cancel out the ability to make weapons from it, though I guess that's worth testing. Even if it prevents normal use but allows weapon making, dwarves in strange moods could still make items which menace with spikes of practice.
The other problem is, practice weapons would keep their damage type and crit boost. A damage mult of 0 would definitely be cheating, as accidental sparring injury adds both realism and difficulty, but it's not too realistic for a dull practice weapon to slice off a hand. 0 damage would also make the military as helpless as babies if they run out and try to fight with their practice weapons.
Method 2: make a "practice" version of each major weapon in item_weapon.txt. That way there are no crazy materials, and all practice weapons could do something realistic, like 40-50 bludgeoning with no crit boost. They could still cause injury, but more along the lines of bumps and bruises, and only occasionally a mashed skull. And they'd still be marginally useful in emergency real combat.
However, adding them to the entity file before gen, even with :RARE, would cause worldgen soldiers to occasionally use the things in combat. But at least it's somewhat explicable. Fighting with a blunted/lightweight weapon could be a dwarven rite of passage, punishment for cowardice, could be pacifists who were drafted, just plain very old and worn-out or low quality weapons, etc. Adding them in after gen would be both extra work, and would still cause merchant guards and immigrants to occasionally have them. Either one would still bother me.
Not adding them to the entity file and making them via smelter reactions would avoid ever seeing them with NPCs, but making a weapon at a smelter is pretty odd, they'd clutter up the smelter menu, they'd never have quality modifiers (not that you want them to, but still), and making them would only train up the furnace operator skill. That would bother me, too.
Seems like there's no really good way to do it, until the next version comes out.
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Topic: which way to mod in training weapons? (Read 484 times)